About

1864: A blog about upsizing from 480 to 3,000 sq ft and downsizing from a city of 8 million to a town of 2,000

Hi! My name is Erin Perrazzelli. I lived in Brooklyn and Manhattan for ten years and now I live in Knightstown Indiana. While I was in New York I worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Etsy, and as an artist in a studio in Bushwick. I was a pretty early employee at Etsy and I was also hanging around the Bushwick art scene at a time when you could still get a cheap studio. I had an incredible time in New York and I even met my husband Luigi there. We had a kid and tried life in New York in a 480 sq ft apartment for a little bit. It was a tight squeeze and a tough gig toting Tony around on subways. Last spring during a trip to Indiana (where I am from) I took what turned out to be a pretty fortuitous walk with the dog. I was space-starved and ripe for change that day when I noticed my dog peeing on the REO sign. I looked up and through the weeds and old trees I saw an Italianate Victorian beauty full of broken windowpanes. A few months later my husband, the lifelong, multi generational New Yorker, had joined me in this quaint little town, and we were trying to fix those window panes. This blog is about downsizing from a city of 8 million to a town of 2,000 and about upsizing from 480 sq ft to over 3,000. It's also about motherhood, creativity and renovation. The name of the blog comes from the age of the house.

This blog was inspired by a few other blogs that I read daily. I'd like to tell you about them incase you didn't know of them yet.

LocalMilk: An absolutely exquisite little world on the internet which I came across while searching for images of New Orleans. I had actually searched the terms "blog new orleans" and this was all that came up! I'm so glad it did. I can't get enough of Beth's view through the camera and her boundless adventures. I am definitely hoping to attend one of her retreats someday.

Door Sixteen: This one I came across when I was living right down the road from Anna. I was in Marlboro NY and she was in Newburgh. I didn't have a house of my own at the time, but looking at hers sure made me hope I would someday.

Rowdy Kittens: After watching about a million tiny house shows I wondered why there was never any follow up to these people to see how they were fairing in their new lives. I searched "tiny house what is it really like" and found Tammy. She has such a nice perspective - I bought her book "You can buy happiness and it's cheap!" and loved every word.

Mr. Money Mustache: Can't say enough about this guy - he is in large part the reason we made the leap from New York City to Indiana. Being an artist I've always looked for a way to have enough financial freedom to work on an art career without having to depend on it for money. He made me realize that with enough planning and hard work it may actually possible.